I've been on the fence about this Menomena album for a while now. I am a huge fan of the Friend and Foe era of their work (their, you know, last era). That album is pretty much close to perfect, full of interesting songs that fill me with all sorts of cool emotions and basically forces me to sing along with them. Even the b-sides from that era (one of which I've posted here) are awesome, featuring the same general "Menomena sound".

That's what was initially upsetting about Mines, that they basically threw away their established sound. Mines sounds more like a traditional rock record---the songs here don't exactly follow verse-chorus-verse but they're more conventional all around. The instruments are given plenty of room to breathe---silence and echoes seem to be the major theme musically. Each instrument has it's own space in the mix, clear and concise, just like it used to be, but everything else just feels different.

Rocker "Taos" is the obvious entry point. Upbeat, heavy even, with a vocal and lyrics that just sound like someone is about to get totally all up in your grill. It's a great song, I almost posted it here instead of "Dirty Cartoons", and it's where you can search for a lot of Menomena-isms if you need to: little blasts of brass accenting the break (call and response with the guitar, I'm in love), the near-yelping vocal, and lyrics that sound like they're describing a way you've always felt but have never been able to articulate.

But it's "Dirty Cartoons" raw emotional wailing of "Go home... I'm trying" that really got me. This is one of those hooks that I wish I had thought of. It's so simple, a bass, a shuffling drum beat, and four words and you have full minutes of a song that is emotionally full and powerful. I like this song a lot, but I do wonder what the heck he means by, "I was misled by dirty cartoons." Misled to believe what? The only dirty cartoon I've ever seen was that one with the cat, and I don't know what you could get from that.

I guess now that I think about it, the main difference on Mines from their prior work is that it just sounds more like they have a normal drummer, and aren't just three hyperactive super inventive guys laying out crisp, interesting and dynamic drum beats. It almost sounds like they made a conscious decision to pare back the drums on this record and give the songs room to stretch their legs. As such, Mines is a more contemplative record, which goes in line with the theme of 2010 releases, it seems.

All in all, while I started off initially pretty disappointed in the quiet and almost depressing tone of this album, I've come to recognize elements of the band that I fell in love with in it. I also realize that changing their sound between records is something good bands do, and that I normally appreciate it more than this. It's only bad bands that release similar sounding albums. I guess I just didn't expect Menomena to change their tone so drastically, but I suppose it makes sense. It almost matches the mood of Danny Seim and Brent Knopf's solo projects. So, as always, YMMV.